Huh? Everybody QQ (cries) because they say people rush too much... Maybe I should learn though to prepare more before an attempted homeworld strike. People usually have defenses and a starbase up.

TEC should bee-line for the third tech level, if only for Hoshikos.  Hoshikos are the #1 reason to play TEC in the first place.  This will definitely make a huge impact on your attempts to knock out the enemy.  If they're entrenched with a starbase, you may need to move to the 4th level for Ogrovs.

Finishing people off can be tricky, particularly if they're starbased with a decent fleet and have ally support.  If they don't have allies, just box them in and keep expanding.  Ask them for their surrender, and make it quite clear you have no intention of walking into their death trap.  Attack their less defended assets and try to keep them pinned down to their own super-well-defended homeworld. 

If they do have allies, it becomes a little tricky.  Culture usually won't work.  If you don't have the forces to break them, often the best solution is to keep a small siege force to keep them pinned down while another force heads around to colonize and expand.  Sometimes you can begin to build a powerful economy in your position.  Making a kill against a heavily starbased location can be quite difficult, but if you play it well you can keep the enemy out of the game without killing them.

Eh, I keep hearing about how powerful the hoshikos are, but I'm having a hard time getting em. I get them, but its only because I hear how people always say they are so powerful. So, I guess the problem is they aren't a priority for me. Both of the repair bay upgrades and then the hosi upgrade seem like a lot for a little dude that heals... Usually I'm too busy thinkin I need a few more LRM's to take out defenses on that homeworld. I'll aim for the "pin em and leave em" idea next time. I thought about it. I should have done it now that I look back, but I didn't...

If I do pin a person, and then go for a war on another front I'll surely get the hosi's. Maybe it'll all come together here soon.

Saw your post after I had posted Agent... I know about the not being out thing. Had the dude pinned down. Team lost anways... AGH!

Eh, Usually they have end up getting hangars up, remnants of a fleet, repair bays, and factories, and oh yeah, a starbase.

Eh, I like em, but I don't love em. Just don't quite love em. I will take your word on it, and go ahead and put that cash into getting the upgrades faster. I worry that I will sac too much time into them, and be behind in fleet size though. Gotta learn though I reckon. I'm pretty sure I'll stick with TEC. Advent seems to be a lot of microing in battle. To be honest I don't wanna spend *that* much time in there pulling it off. I'd rather have the ability to take somebody out, or cripple them early/mid than overpower someone late. Who cares about late game powerhouses if they don't get there?

Also, how do you team chat in multiplayer? Surely there is a way... Surely -.-

I'm not so sure that hoshis are great for keeping caps alive in the face of focus fire and bombers.  Of course they are better than nothing, but they aren't THAT much better than nothing.  Basically, we just have to accept with this game that there is little we can do to keep caps alive if they are to support the fleet.  My response to this is just to not build caps.

They have repair cruisers, but you almost never see them used in ICO games - they are at a higher tier level.  But you ALWAYS see TEC hoshis.

well vasari got overseers and advent got dominas for repair cruisers problem is hoshiko's repair is an instant repair over time ; after it uses its repair it can help fire the enemy; something that dominas can't do since they must channel its repair ability ; even overseer's repair is somewhat not as simple as hokoes

The exact number depends on what kind of fleet your running and what your situation is.  Sometimes it does make sense to go a little firepower heavy, sometimes it does not.  I think 1 hoshiko for every 5 of other frigates would be a reasonable number in most situation, but one for every 10 or 15 would definitely be too few.

Yeah...  Dominas are lack-luster.  Overseers when used properly are the end-all-be-all of capital survivability, and Hoshikoes are the best way to keep a large fleet alive as a whole.

True, but it does make them unique.

Overseer also buffs armor for its duration (non-stackable), and you can heal a single target with as many overseers as you like.  Invaluable for starbases and capital ships.